As someone who considers himself a reasonably savvy moviegoer, I like to think that I’m not bad at discerning what the deal is going to be with a movie before I see it. That’s not to say that I think I have every plot point or aesthetic choice nailed down; I just mean that I’m good at predicting some general qualities from limited information.

Good, but far from perfect.

For instance, I was pretty sure I knew what I was going to get from “Bad Times at the El Royale” despite the fact that the publicity run-up wasn’t particularly thorough. The thing is written and directed by Drew Goddard, after all – he’s a prolific writer and producer, but the last time we got the writer/director double-dip, he gave us the exceptional meta-horror “The Cabin in the Woods.” I figured I was going to get something similar to that movie, a noir/neo-noir deconstruction-cum-parody.

But rather than a comment on a genre, Goddard – along with a fantastic ensemble cast – gives us a particularly well-executed example of that genre, one tinged with Goddard’s weirdo sensibilities and unique aesthetic sense. It twists and turns with abandon and is utterly remorseless in the sacrifices it makes in order to advance the narrative. It’s brutal and visceral and darkly funny – not quite what I expected, but a hell of a time nonetheless.

Few movies have suffered the sort of instant backlash/resentment that was inspired by the remake/reboot of 'Ghostbusters.' Armed with little more than an overly reverent nostalgia and an (admittedly not-great) first trailer not to mention plenty of good old fashioned misogyny hordes of nitwits and trolls took to the internet to bemoan the lack of quality in a film that none of them had even seen yet.

Remake fails to match spirit of original

The 1980s were a simpler time. America was America and we knew exactly who the bad guys were. That's what made a film like 1984's 'Red Dawn' such a success; it was rah-rah jingoism built around showing those Russkies who was boss.

In the 21st century, however, those lines of demarcation aren't so clear. This leads to the 'Red Dawn' remake. Since the circumstances aren't nearly so clear cut these days the movie's main enemy even had to be changed before the film was released you get a film that falls short of the plucky 'America! Fk yeah!' spirit of the original.

Latest Snow White' adaptation both overwrought and dull

We live in an age of recycled creativity. The number of original stories that are being told in our popular media seems to shrink with each year that passes.

This shrinkage is what leads us to the release of 'Snow White and the Huntsman,' the second reboot of the classic fairy tale to debut in less than three months ('Mirror Mirror' hit screens at the end of March). So not only is it a story that has been told countless times before, it's a story that was just told a few weeks ago.

They're different movies, to be sure 'Snow White and the Huntsman' adopts a darker, more adult tone than its predecessor. However, that darkness and thematic maturity doesn't change the fact that this movie simply isn't very good.

Comic book culmination even better than advertised

'The Avengers' is the culmination of a years-long buildup spread across multiple films. It is an incredibly ambitious attempt at world-building the likes of which the summer blockbuster genre has never seen before. It is an effort at creating not just a comic book movie, but a comic book universe. The hype has been enormous and the anticipation even greater. So it's here.

And it's outstanding.

A mad Asgardian demigod named Loki (Tom Hiddleston, 'War Horse') the brother of Thor has stolen an alien artifact known as the Tesseract in order to build an army to conquer the Earth. Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson, 'Meeting Evil') is the head of a superspy organization known as SHIELD and is the point man on dealing with this (or any other) alien attack against the Earth.

The Cabin in the Woods' an atypical horror story

Making a horror movie is a tricky thing. Finding ways to scare people is difficult in and of itself. Considering that there's almost a century of celluloid fear-mongering behind us, coming up with a new way to scare someone at the movies seems almost impossible - right up until some director or another finds one.

This time, it's Joss Whedon. His latest project is 'The Cabin in the Woods.' While the film was directed by first-timer Drew Goddard, Whedon wrote the script and produced the film, in addition to serving as second unit director. His fingerprints are all over this movie in the best way.

Dana (Kristen Connelly, 'Certainty') is a college student getting ready to get out of town for a weekend with some of her friends. There's the smart and athletic Curt (Chris Hemsworth, 'Thor') and his sweet girlfriend Jules (Anna Hutchison, TV's 'Wild Boys'). Curt and Jules have invited Curt's new buddy Holden (Jesse Williams, TV's 'Grey's Anatomy') in order to maybe set her up with Dana. Rounding out the crew is the chatty, likable stoner Marty (Fran Kranz, TV's 'Dollhouse'). The quintet piles into an RV and heads off to Curt's cousin's new cabin.